2022 Domaine Gueneau Sancerre Rouge "Terres de Fossiles", Loire Valley, France

ABOUT THIS WINE

100% Pinot Noir from Sancerre! This wine ages for 10 months (50% stainless and 50% French oak barrels) 

Elisa Gueneau makes this minuscule production wine from 25-year-old vines growing on thick limestone soils. The ruby color with garnet-red highlights immediately conveys the unusual seriousness of this Sancerre rouge.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Elisa’s family has been in Sancerre since before they kept records… a long time. The family has been farming ever since and wine as always been a part, small at the beginning, of the farm. It is Elisa’s father Alain who started to focus only on wine in 1970.

The Gueneau estate is comprised of 35 acres of vineyards planted on the rather steep slopes that surround the villages of Sury-en-Vaux, Chavignol, and Sancerre. 80% of the vines are planted in the calcareous clay soils known locally as “terres blanches,” which give the wine its body, richness, and complexity. The other 20% are planted in “caillottes” also referred to as “griottes,” stony soils that lend lovely fruity notes to the wine. Sauvignon Blanc represents 75% of the production. The red and rosé are made from Pinot Noir. All is done with an environmentally responsible approach to preserve this terroir, an irreplaceable source of such flavorful wines.

Working the land, taking care of the soil…daily, Elisa strives to find the balance between the vines’ needs and respect of the terroir which has been so generously given to us by Mother Nature. A well-thought-out approach is her priority! She observes her plots throughout the year to care for them as best possible. To respect nature and the environment, she keeps grass between her rows of vines and she works the soil around the base of the vines.